Afghan women’s rights at risk

In a rare interview, broadcast by CNN on May 17, Afghanistan’s interior minister and head of the dreaded Haqqani Network, Sirajuddin Haqqani, promised “very good news” soon on the return of girls to secondary schools that have been closed since March this year, just hours after they reopened. However, any enthusiasm about this could be mistaken in view of the number of Regressive Steps Taken by Taliban To curb the freedom of women and girls since assuming power in August 2021.

true colors of taliban

The initial setbacks are easing after the Taliban seized power in Kabul. The Taliban, which had shown some degree of restraint in the early stages of the takeover to gain international acceptance, funding and recognition, has now begun to show its true colours. For long-term observers of Afghanistan, this is hardly surprising. Despite a US-mediated 2020 peace deal that pinned unfairly on a “reformed” Taliban to rule the country, many observers issued warnings that the Taliban’s takeover of power would result in a loss of weak gains. Will happen. Afghanistan in the last two decades.

While the gains made by the international community in Afghanistan over the past 20 years may be debated, it was unmistakable that the opportunities for girls and women in education and employment had greatly expanded. Female participation in Afghanistan’s labor force increased from about 15% in 2009 to about 22% in 2019. During my frequent visits to different provinces of Afghanistan, it has always been a pleasure to see women playing important roles in government, parliament, media. in the health and education sectors, and in civil society. They had carved a niche for themselves in conflict-ridden patriarchal structures and systems. Although various interventions by the international community on women’s issues did not change the structures, they did provide opportunities for women to be capable of change. In parliament, and in Kandahar, Nangarhar, Badakhshan, Herat, Balkh and other provincial councils, young women took serious risks in political participation and mobilization.

Today those voices are lost. A report by the International Labor Organization in January 2022 found that Afghan women’s employment levels declined by an estimated 16% in the third quarter of 2021, compared to 6% for men. By the middle of 2022, women’s employment is expected to be 21% lower than before the Taliban takeover, if the current situation continues. In the rush to reach out to the Taliban during the peace processes, the protection of women’s rights was hardly emphasized as a red line. As fatigue towards the war developed within and outside the country, there was hardly any concerted effort to make women’s rights and human rights a non-negotiable part of the negotiations. The participation of some Afghan women representatives in the intra-Afghan talks in Doha raised expectations in the international community that the rebels had reformed and were ready to accept the role of women in Afghan society and government. However, these hopes were shattered.

There is speculation that the Taliban is in the process of finalizing a dress code for girls in schools. Haqqani noted the “necessity” that education should be based on Afghan “culture” and “Islamic rules and principles”. She referred to the issue of women wearing the hijab “more broadly”. The Taliban aren’t just identifying dress codes for girls and women; Men have also been asked to wear special clothes and grow beards, due to which hairdressers are shutting down the shutters of their businesses. However, with regard to women, the Taliban decrees have been particularly harsh.

a regressive mindset

Since seizing power in Kabul, the Taliban have taken several conflicting steps on the issue of women’s return to public life. Initially he mentioned the prevalence of chaos and insecurity and asked women to stay indoors. The Taliban’s acting prime minister, Mullah Mohammad Hassan Akhund, claimed that women would be allowed to continue working under Sharia law, but women government employees in Kabul were told to stay at home. Only those women were allowed to work whose tasks could not be performed by men. Subsequently, the regime brought in rules that forbade women from stepping out if they did not have male relatives with them. On 7 May, Taliban chief Hibatullah Akhundzada issued a decree making the burqa completely mandatory for women. Therefore, it is unlikely that Haqqani’s assurances of “very good news” will reverse the group’s regressive outlook.

It is clear that Taliban 2.0 is no different from the Taliban that ruled the country between 1996 and 2001. The stories of a “reformed” and “liberal” Taliban, recounted by sections of the media, were naive. I conducted an interview in May 2012 with Maulvi Kalamuddin, former deputy minister of the General Department for the Promotion and Abolition of the Virtue of the Taliban, a post in which he described the implementation of extreme Islamic laws through religious police squads. was looked after. Close monitoring of the Afghan population at the High Peace Council in Kabul, an Afghan organization founded by President Hamid Karzai in 2010 to combat Taliban-led insurgency. When I asked her whether women’s rights would be protected if the Taliban returned, she replied: “The West does not understand Afghan society. I am not against women working in offices or going out in public alone. Look, you’re a foreigner. If you can cover your head and respect our culture, we appreciate and expect it from Afghan women. The current breed of Afghan women appearing on TV without head scarves is not acceptable. Women need to follow Sharia laws in line with Afghan culture. His answers have hardly indicated a change of heart.

The biggest impact of denial of rights to women in the workforce would be a sharp contraction in the economy. Apart from the loss of rights, many households run by women may be looking at a bleak future. According to the World Bank, in 2019, 36% of teachers in the country were women, the highest number in 20 years. But the Taliban’s ban on girls’ education in March 2022 has forced most female teachers out of work. By the end of 2021, fewer than 100 of Kabul’s 700 female journalists were still working (Reporters Without Borders data).

As the war in Ukraine has gained and maintained international attention, Afghanistan seems to have been forgotten again. Occasionally, the plight of Afghan women and the atrocities of the Taliban are mentioned in the media. The Taliban do not hesitate to exploit the issue to attract international attention. Therefore, the international community needs to make a concerted and coordinated effort to protect the rights of Afghan women and girls and ensure that the de facto rulers of Afghanistan are held accountable for their actions.

Shanti is Mariette D’Souza, Founder and President, Ministry and Visiting Research Fellow, SWP, Berlin. She has conducted field research and worked with women’s groups in Afghanistan for over a decade